Update: Verizon negotiations continue without a strike

Heather Bragman / The Post-StandardVerizon workers gather around Christopher Ryan, center, just after midnight today as he explains that there will not be an immediate strike.

Update: At 3 p.m. today, Verizon Communications and two of its unions were continuing negotiations.

"Not a whole lot has changed from last night, however negotiations are continuing, progress is being made, and we're hopeful that the company can put forth a good proposal so we can reach a fair and equitable contract for our membership," said Christopher Ryan, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1123 in Syracuse.

"We're still at it. We're still at the table. The dialog is still open. Progress is still being made," Ryan said. "Nobody knows when it's going to all come together. That's the million dollar question."

Union officials say they are continuing to negotiate because they are making some progress. Their No. 1 goal, Ryan said, is to keep jobs in Onondaga County.

"It's still continingent on the jobs, keeping our work in New York and stopping the company from outsourcing, from contracting and from subcontracting," he said. "We're looking for an agreement. We've lost many thousands of workers and we're looking to stop that and get back our work. We need jobs here."

Earlier (1:10 a.m. Sunday):

Verizon Communications Inc. and two of its unions continued to negotiate early today, at least temporarily averting their first strike in eight years.

The 65,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in New York state and New England had threatened to stop working at 12:01 a.m. today. Their most recent five-year contract expired at midnight.

At 12:05 a.m., Christopher Ryan, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1123 in Syracuse, stood up to address about 100 union members at the Verizon office on Thompson Road in DeWitt.

He told the members that negotiations were continuing. He said the union would continue working while the two sides talk.

At 12:30 a.m., an e-mail from the CWA said: "The Communications Workers of America announced tonight that in light of progress that has been made in bargaining for a new contract with Verizon, it has agreed to 'stop the clock' on the expiration of the current contract and postpone strike action for the time being. The current contract will remain in effect, and negotiations are set to resume Sunday morning."

As Ryan talked to union members, he was peppered with questions.

"We made a lot of progress," Ryan told the crowd. "Yesterday, we had nothing. Today, we have a lot more."

"How long will the negotiations go on?" one member asked.

"I don't know," Ryan replied.

Another member shouted in reply: "We don't want an extension. We want to go" on strike.

Audra Conway, of Syracuse, a union steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Syracuse, said members were upset because of the importance of the issues at stake -- job security and benefits.

"These are two issues we should strike for," Conway said. "We should have gone on strike."

Ryan said the issues are worth fighting for, but patience may pay off.

"I have faith in our bargaining committee to get a good contract," he said. "I think that we're headed for a contract, and I would hate to see progress stopped at the twelfth hour."

The e-mailed news release from the CWA reported progress on several major issues, including health care coverage for active and retired employees, retirement security, and job security. However, the news release said "significant additional bargaining still lies ahead before a settlement is possible."

The negotiations affect about 900-area Verizon workers, most of whom belong to CWA Local 1123.

On Saturday, the two sides started negotiating with several divisive issues to settle. Tops among them, the unions said, was their opposition to Verizon's practice of outsourcing jobs to non-union support centers in the U.S. and other countries.

"We're taking a stand for Onondaga County. We need good jobs here, we don't want our jobs leaving," Ryan had said earlier on Saturday.

The unions said Verizon was also demanding greatly increased worker payments for health insurance, eliminating retiree health care coverage for new employees and requiring all workers who retire after Jan. 1, 2009, to pay for health insurance.

Verizon declined to publicly discuss contract discussions, but said its union employees have the best wages and benefits in the communications industry.

The company says it has a contingency plan in the event of a strike but won't say what the plan is. CWA and IBEW members mostly install Verizon's fiber-optic FiOS network and maintain the company's landline telephone network. Only 64 of the 70,000 people who work for Verizon Wireless are unionized, according to the CWA.

A strike could delay phone repairs and installations. In August 2000, the unions launched a strike for 18 days triggering a logjam of repairs and installations. In 2003, the two sides extended their contract during negotiations to avoid a strike. However, the unions called strikes for two days in 1998 and for 17 weeks in 1989.

The company, headquartered in New York City, has had a profitable past 18 months. It made $5.52 billion last year and reported a $3.52 billion profit for the first six months of this year.

Earlier:

Update: At 11:45 p.m. Saturday, about 75 workers were gathered outside the Verizon office on Thompson Road office in DeWitt. They were upbeat and drivers of many of the passing cars were honking their horns.

Update: As of 10:30 p.m. Saturday, the two sides were still negotating in the looming Verizon strike. Christopher Ryan, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1123 in Syracuse, said the fact that the union and company remain in negotiations indicates to him that the two sides are trying very hard to reach a new contract and avert the strike.

According to an e-mail news release at 8:58 p.m. from Communications Workers of America headquarters in New York: "As of 8:45 p.m., CWA, IBEW and Verizon are engaged in intensive negotiations in an effort to achieve a new collective bargaining agreement before the expiration of the current contract at 12 midnight. No further information on the status of negotiations is expected to be available until shortly before expiration."

Earlier Saturday:

With time running out on reaching a new contract, some 65,000 union workers at Verizon Communications Inc. are poised to strike at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Union and company negotiators were continuing to bargain today but both sides reported no progress by late afternoon.

Verizon spokesman John Bonomo said "there's no change from this morning'' and Christopher Ryan, a local union official, said workers have already received picket duty assignments if the two sides can't reach agreement when their five-contract expires at midnight.

"We're prepared to strike at 12:01 a.m.'' said Ryan, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1123.

The two sides remained divided on several issues but Ryan said the major thorn in negotiations is Verizon's practice of outsourcing jobs of union members in New York and other states to non-union "call centers'' in the U.S. and out of the country.

"We're taking a stand for Onondaga County. We need good jobs here, we don't want our jobs leaving,'' Ryan said in a separate interview.

Deferring to company policy, Bonomo declined to discuss any contractual issues.
In Central New York, the contracts cover 800 members of Communications Workers of America Local 1123 and about 100 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2213.The two unions represent about 65,000 workers in New York state and New England.
If a strike does happen, the main effect could be delayed installations and repairs of landlines and Internet connections. The union last went on strike for two weeks in August 2000, for two days in 1998 and for 17 weeks in 1989, Ryan said.